Arlington High School Improvements Move into Feasibility Phase

Arlington is among eight districts invited by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to conduct a Feasibility Study for renovating and/or rebuilding Arlington High School. This work is required in order to address significant infrastructure and programmatic issues at the school, which has had no major renovations since 1978. The goal of this phase of the MSBA process is to determine the best way to move forward. During the study we document our educational program, generate an initial space summary, document existing conditions, establish design parameters, develop and evaluate alternatives, and recommend the most cost effective and educationally appropriate preferred solution to the MSBA Board of Directors for their consideration and approval. Initial documentation on the educational program, existing conditions and space needs was submitted to MSBA during the first phase. However, a more detailed overview of the educational program that is informed by input from administrators, faculty and staff, students, parents, the community and School Committee will written during this phase.

The first step is to hire an Owner’s Project Manager (OPM), who will work with the town and MSBA to hire an architect. This process will take between six and nine months. Once the architect is hired, we can begin to collect input from the community. An additional 12-24 months will be required to complete the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design.

It is our hope that we can begin renovation/construction during the 2019-2020 school year. The time required for this project, which includes this year, is estimated to be about six years. The Arlington school district is grateful for the strong support of the voters in our community who approved funding for the feasibility study and schematic design by a large margin in June 2016.